Job 14:20

14:20 You overpower him once for all, ¹ 

and he departs;

you change ²  his appearance

and send him away.

Job 15:27

15:27 Because he covered his face with fat, ³ 

and made ⁴  his hips bulge with fat, ⁵ 

Job 41:14

41:14 Who can open the doors of its mouth? ⁶ 

Its teeth all around are fearsome.

Job 13:15

13:15 Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; ⁷ 

I will surely ⁸  defend ⁹  my ways to his face!

Job 21:31

21:31 No one denounces his conduct to his face;

no one repays him for what ¹⁰  he has done. ¹¹ 

Job 33:26

33:26 He entreats God, and God ¹²  delights in him,

he sees God’s face ¹³  with rejoicing,

and God ¹⁴  restores to him his righteousness. ¹⁵ 

Job 42:8

42:8 So now take ¹⁶  seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede ¹⁷  for you, and I will respect him, ¹⁸  so that I do not deal with you ¹⁹  according to your folly, ²⁰  because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.” ²¹ 

[14:20]  ¹ tn D. W. Thomas took נֵצַח (netsakh) here to have a superlative meaning: “You prevail utterly against him” (“Use of netsach as a superlative in Hebrew,” JSS 1 [1956]: 107). Death would be God’s complete victory over him.

[14:20]  ² tn The subject of the participle is most likely God in this context. Some take it to be man, saying “his face changes.” Others emend the text to read an imperfect verb, but this is not necessary.

[15:27]  ³ sn This verse tells us that he is not in any condition to fight, because he is bloated and fat from luxurious living.

[15:27]  ⁴ tn D. W. Thomas defends a meaning “cover” for the verb עָשָׂה (’asah). See “Translating Hebrew `asah,” BT 17 [1966]: 190-93.

[15:27]  ⁵ tn The term פִּימָה (pimah), a hapax legomenon, is explained by the Arabic fa’ima, “to be fat.” Pope renders this “blubber.” Cf. KJV “and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.”

[41:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “his face.”

[13:15]  ⁷ tn There is a textual difficulty here that factors into the interpretation of the verse. The Kethib is לֹא (lo’, “not”), but the Qere is לוֹ (lo, “to him”). The RSV takes the former: “Behold, he will slay me, I have no hope.” The NIV takes it as “though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Job is looking ahead to death, which is not an evil thing to him. The point of the verse is that he is willing to challenge God at the risk of his life; and if God slays him, he is still confident that he will be vindicated – as he says later in this chapter. Other suggestions are not compelling. E. Dhorme (Job, 187) makes a slight change of אֲיַחֵל (’ayakhel, “I will hope”) to אַחִיל (’akhil, “I will [not] tremble”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 98) retains the MT, but interprets the verb more in line with its use in the book: “I will not wait” (cf. NLT).

[13:15]  ⁸ tn On אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) see GKC 483 §153 on intensive clauses.

[13:15]  ⁹ tn The verb once again is יָכָה (yakhah, in the Hiphil, “argue a case, plead, defend, contest”). But because the word usually means “accuse” rather than “defend,” I. L. Seeligmann proposed changing “my ways” to “his ways” (“Zur Terminologie für das Gerichtsverfahren im Wortschatz des biblischen Hebräisch,” VTSup 16 [1967]: 251-78). But the word can be interpreted appropriately in the context without emendation.

[21:31]  ⁹ tn The expression “and he has done” is taken here to mean “what he has done.”

[21:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Who declares his way to his face? // Who repays him for what he has done?” These rhetorical questions, which expect a negative answer (“No one!”) have been translated as indicative statements to bring out their force clearly.

[33:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26]  ¹² tn Heb “his face”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:26]  ¹⁴ tc Many commentators think this line is superfluous and so delete it. The RSV changed the verb to “he recounts,” making the idea that the man publishes the news of his victory or salvation (taking “righteousness” as a metonymy of cause).

[42:8]  ¹³ tn The imperatives in this verse are plural, so all three had to do this together.

[42:8]  ¹⁴ tn The verb “pray” is the Hitpael from the root פָּלַל (palal). That root has the main idea of arbitration; so in this stem it means “to seek arbitration [for oneself],” or “to pray,” or “to intercede.”

[42:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will lift up his face,” meaning, “I will regard him.”

[42:8]  ¹⁶ tn This clause is a result clause, using the negated infinitive construct.

[42:8]  ¹⁷ tn The word “folly” can also be taken in the sense of “disgrace.” If the latter is chosen, the word serves as the direct object. If the former, then it is an adverbial accusative.

[42:8]  ¹⁸ sn The difference between what they said and what Job said, therefore, has to do with truth. Job was honest, spoke the truth, poured out his complaints, but never blasphemed God. For his words God said he told the truth. He did so with incomplete understanding, and with all the impatience and frustration one might expect. Now the friends, however, did not tell what was right about God. They were not honest; rather, they were self-righteous and condescending. They were saying what they thought should be said, but it was wrong.